Reborn in the USA

I may be dating myself but I remember when the disposable razor first came out. It was a real novelty and soon became a huge success. It didn’t seem like much then but it started the disposable ball rolling and it’s gotten bigger ever since. From diapers to fast food, it seems everything is disposable today, which is one reason why our landfills are filling up faster than we can build them. Planned obsolescence may have begun as a remedy for the Depression but now it’s just plain depressing.

That’s why I am so proud of our shoes and our Recrafting® service. Making products that last and then Recrafting them to last even longer may not be the norm in today’s economy, but it should be. Why am I writing about this now? Because this month of May we mark an incredible milestone at Allen Edmonds when we finish recrafting our one millionth pair of shoes for F.E. Castleberry who sent us a pair of Brookwood tasseled loafers. And coincidentally this year also marks 30 years since we began recrafting shoes.

At present we are recrafting nearly 60,000 pairs of shoes each year and we have a staff of over 30 people dedicated to the service. Over the years we have worked on every style of recraftable Allen Edmonds shoe possible. They come to us in all shapes and sizes, most very well worn. We never know what we will find when we open a package. We have received vintage styles that are no longer available and custom shoes that were only made once. Some come with great stories behind them, like the man who wanted to Recraft the shoes worn by both his father and grandfather. And of course, we have seen our share of the weird and wacky. We found $700 in one pair of shoes, a man’s wedding ring in another, and we even had a customer request that his father’s ashes be mixed in with the cork during the recrafting process.

Most of the time, however, the customer has simply fallen in love with the fit and look of his Allen Edmonds shoes and wants to continue to wear them. It’s this kind of loyalty that makes our Recrafting service so special. To celebrate we are offering $50 off a pair of regular-priced new shoes when you bring in a pair of shoes to be recrafted at any of our retail locations or send them to us directly ( www.AllenEdmonds.com/recrafting ) from May 10 – 17 and you will receive a coupon for $50 off an online or in-store purchase.

Bring yours in today because, even though we may live in a disposable society, fortunately there are still some things are just too good to throw away.